Saving Me
by o0whitelily0o
Summary: Some people only get one chance to change their lives, and Devi was Nny's. Is she really gone? Oneshot?
1. Beginning

Even before she left her shift and started down the street, Devi knew that she should've volunteered for overtime. It wasn't quite dark enough out for the streetlights on, but the setting sun was casting eerie shadows everywhere. To make things worse, Sickness had decided to take this opportune moment and use it to increase Devi's nervousness.

_Anyone could be down these alleys! A mugger, a rapist, a murderer… _A mental image of the little goblin doll formed, and Devi shook her head, trying to get rid of it.

"Shut UP, Sickness!" She growled, knowing that if anyone were watching they'd think she was insane. For better or worse, however, there was no one on these streets.

_As far as you know, that is. Anyone could be hiding inside, as well. You never know when you'll start hearing footsteps behind you. _The screws in her backpack rattled together, although how she was able to hear it with all the junk in there she'd long since decided she'd never understand. She was about to yell at Sickness and steel herself against the annoying and decidedly creepy voice, when her blood froze.

There really _were_ footsteps behind her.

'It's probably just an echo, right?' She thought, though her hand was already moving towards her pack and the can of mace she had in it.

_Nope! You are going to die right here, all alone, with me singing your least favorite song until you lose consciousness. _The little doll sounded quite pleased, and even began humming a few bars.

Although she dearly wished to, this was no time to be shouting at the mind-demon. The best course of action, she decided as the footsteps drew closer, would be to turn around and prepare the mace. Who knows, it could just a person walking their dogs, or maybe even a street performer.

But deep down, she knew who it would be. She had seen his face in so many of her nightmares… There he was, standing with a blade in each of his hands, his face swathed in shadows.

Johnny.

Letting out a little gasp, Devi fumbled desperately with her pack. Before she even had time to blink, however, the pack had been sliced in two, all of its contents spilling onto the ground. Her pencils rolled all over, and her eraser sort of bounced into the street, but what mattered was that the can of mace rolled towards the maniac standing across from her, even going so far as to bump into one of his boots.

Sickness cackled in the back of her mind, but she tried to ignore it. She had beaten up this guy before; she could do it again.

_Oh, but that time he wasn't expecting it. This time, he knows. He'll be able to slit your throat before you even have time to pull back your fist._ Devi knew that this might be true (hell, it probably _was_ true). Nevertheless, if she was going to die, she was going to make a fight of it. Every muscle in her body tightened up and readied itself to the oncoming attack.

Her arm gave a jerk when he tossed the two knives onto the ground.

For a second, what happened didn't quite register. She looked up at him warily, and as a streetlight flickered into life, she was able to see him properly for the first time.

He had always been thin, but everything about him now seemed… hollow. He seemed to drift in his trench coat, and there were large bags under his eyes. That part seemed to shake her the most. They had discussed his insomnia, and Devi had insisted that she hadn't been able to tell he had trouble sleeping. It had been true then, but now…

"Devi…" His voice, which sounded like it hadn't been used for a while, startled her out of her thoughts. Realizing how much she had let her guard down, she stiffened back up again. He seemed to notice this, and looked pained.

"Devi," He started again, "That night…if I told you why I did what I did that night, you wouldn't believe me…and what's more, I think that I'd probably be telling you a lot of lies as well…" There was a clear struggle in every word he said. "You'll never be able to forgive me…I've always known that. Forgiveness, happiness, atonement…I've done nothing in my life to even suggest that I deserve any of them.

"But…even so…I want to start working for them. I want to know what it's like to feel the guilt in my heart ease. I want to be able to start over." His dark eyes locked with hers, and she understood that he knew about Sickness, knew that she had overcome what he had unknowingly succumb to. How had he found out? Well, how did he ever know the things he knew? "Devi…I'm so sorry for what I've done to you…for everything you went through. I hate doing this, having to crawl back to you on hands and knees like this, when I've done nothing except drive you farther away."

His voice, which had been raising steadily, suddenly turned into nothing more then a whisper. If there had been a single car driving by, or even a person walking by listening to music, the words would've been lost forever. But she still heard them.

"Please… save me."

Later on, Devi would never be able to tell how long they stood like that, neither one daring to drop their eyes first. Even Sickness had nothing to say.

Without quite realizing what she was doing, she took a step. Then another.

And the direction her feet took her cemented Johnny's fate.

_A/N: I'll leave it up to you to decide whether it was towards or away from Nny that she walked. The song, 'Saving Me' inspired this fanfic, although I hate doing songfics, so I just wrote it with the idea in mind. I also drew a picture and made a music video for Nny & Devi for this song. What can I say? Once the musebunnies (as opposed to plotbunnies) get into my head, it takes a lot to get them out. Of course, as soon as they are out, I wish that they would come back xP_

_I might do some alternate ending chapters, but I really like this as a one-shot. What do you guys think?_

_Also, if you are interested, message me for the links to the picture and the music video._


	2. Endings

**Ending A**

In the few moments that it took to close the space between the two of them, Devi had time enough to consider walking past him, to never look back, and to just return to her apartment and close her mind off from memories of this night. But to do that would mean death, whether mentally or physically, whether to Nny or herself. And even if she succeeded in forgetting Johnny and returning to her life, she knew that she didn't want to. Not really.

She did not hold him or kiss him as someone else might have. To do so might have re-opened old scars, or shown that some wounds were still bleeding. Instead, she took his hands in her own, gently but with complete finality.

The gesture made sense. It was, after all, his hands that would need the most healing.

**Ending B**

She never even looked behind her as she pivoted on her heel and walked away. Nny had known that she wouldn't. How could she? He had no right to ask this of her, and they both knew it. But he did not know how close she had come to letting go of her terror and walking towards him. How close he had come to his happy ending.

Even if he had known, it the facts still remained. She had chosen to leave, and he would honor her decision.

They never met again, so there was no way that Devi would ever know that Nny picked up the two knives that he had tossed onto the ground. There was no way that he would ever know how she found Sickness's screws in her pocket when she arrived home, or how for days afterwards her paintings always ended up as portraits of a certain man with navy-blue hair in a black trench coat.

Or how many times she picked up the phone and almost called him, only to drop it for fear of what would answer on the other end.

**Ending C**

Little Todd Casil (known to all, even the doctors in the asylum, as Squee), could never tell how he felt when the Scary Neighbor Man broke him out of the psyche ward. When he asked S.N.M., he simply replied with a confusing speech, the gist being that these places were stupid, and they never really help anybody.

When Todd told the S.N.M. that he wasn't really crazy, he nodded and said, "I know, but I stopped by your house, and there was a note saying that your parents are gone for the next fifty years, and I can't leave a little Squee like you home alone."

For a second, Todd considered telling him that he was fine last time his parents were gone, but Shmee advised him against it, and, when it didn't involve inflicting pain on others, Todd generally took his bear's advice.

"Um, where are we going?" He eventually piped up, when it was clear that they were not returning to his neighbor's house.

"Where I stay nowadays. I probably should've asked Devi first, but I'm certain she won't mind!"

For some reason he'd never, ever be able to explain, Todd was starting to look forward to this.

_A/N: I guess that Ending C could be a sequel to Ending A, but it didn't feel that way when I wrote it. Ending A sort of felt more like Devi and Nny could go either way after that night. Ending C was a more solidified happy ending. No, I do not plan on continuing the story now. You can pick the ending you like best, or which one you think is most likely to happen._

_My belief on the subject is that all three happened, each one in a separate reality (you know, a parallel universe sort of thing). The strings of fate can split whenever and wherever they please._

_Since a lot of you were interested in seeing the picture and MV I mentioned last time, I'll put the links up on my profile._


End file.
